Conventionally, window glasses mounted onto a side window, a roof window, and the like of a vehicle are manually opened and closed, but currently, most window glasses of a vehicle are automatically opened and closed by a force that is generated by a power source such as an electric motor. When the window glass is automatically closed, a foreign object may be pinched between the window glass and the window frame. There has already been developed a window regulator device having an anti-pinch function, in which when the pinching of the foreign object is detected, an operation of the window glass in a closing direction (closing operation) is stopped, or an operation direction of the window glass is reversed, to thereby eliminate the pinching.
The pinching of the foreign object is generally detected in response to increase in load applied from the window glass side to the power source side, or decrease in operation speed of the window glass. However, the pinching of the foreign object is erroneously detected in some cases. For example, when the window glass provided to the side window of the vehicle is closed so that an open/close position thereof is shifted to the vicinity of a fully closed position, an upper side edge of the window glass may be brought into contact with an inner bottom wall of a weatherstrip provided to the window frame, and the weatherstrip may be pinched between the window frame and the window glass. When the load increases or the operation speed of the window glass decreases due to the pinching of the weatherstrip, the pinching is erroneously detected even though the foreign object is not pinched.
When the pinching is erroneously detected and anti-pinch processing is executed based on the erroneous detection, the operation of the window glass to be closed is suddenly stopped or reversed, with the result that a passenger of the vehicle may feel inconvenience. In order to prevent such an erroneous operation of the window glass caused by the erroneous detection of the pinching, conventionally, an open/close area of the window glass in which the erroneous detection of the pinching frequently occurs (for example, an area of the window glass ranging from a position in the vicinity of the fully closed position to the fully closed position, in which the weatherstrip may be pinched as described above) is set as an insensitive area, and in a case where the open/close position of the window glass is situated within the insensitive area, even when the pinching is detected, the operation based on the detection is inhibited.
In this case, it is necessary to detect whether or not the open/close position of the window glass is situated within the insensitive area. Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. Hei 11-101058 discloses a window regulator device (motor-driven window opening/closing device) including a cam member formed on an inner periphery side of a pinion gear, which is coupled to an output shaft of an electric motor via a clutch mechanism, and a switch including a contact element arranged so as to be brought into contact with the cam member, the window regulator device being configured to open and close the window glass by a rotational drive force of the output shaft. According to this window regulator device, based on a contact state between the cam member and the contact element, it is detected whether or not the open/close position of the window glass is situated within the insensitive area.